City Council notes

The first City Council hearing of the year took place on Jan. 24 at City Hall. The Council welcomed the new City Council President Andrea Campbell of District 4 and three new city councilors, including Lydia Edwards of District 1, Ed Flynn of District 2, and Kim Janey of District 7.

Rule Changes:

After complaints were heard from members of the public, City Council President Andrea Campbell said a new rule would be implemented during public hearings that have public testimony. Instead of waiting hours to be heard at the end, when everyone has packed up and left, committee chairs will now be required to hear public testimony at the beginning and the middle of the hearing if the hearing is expected to last three or more hours.

In addition, all committees have been encouraged to focus on the issue of equity – racial or gender – and to look at solving problems through that lens.

Taxi Woes:

Councilor Frank Baker called for a hearing order regarding the regulation of the taxi industry, transportation network companies, and self-driving vehicles. With the onslaught of new technology that allows on-demand car service like Uber and Lyft, the regulatory system governing the taxi industry is in flux.

“Rather than wait and see what the impacts are and pick up the pieces, we need to get out in front of this,” said Councilor Michele Wu the chair of Planning, Development and Transportation. “We want to make sure we are not creating more congestion by increasing vehicles on the road by implementing shared driverless cars, reduce vehicle trips, and free up parking spaces.”

In addition, Wu said, the Council needs to start figuring out what to do when the day comes when Uber is no longer in need of drivers.

“One day not too far in the future, Uber will say they will no longer need to hire drivers and those people will have no source of income and not enough money to put food on the table…how will we address that?”

Long Island Bridge:

Councilors Andrea Campbell and Annissa Essaibi-George called for a hearing to examine plans to reconstruct the Long Island Bridge and reopen service facilities.

The hearings will explore the accounting by the City of Boston and other agencies regarding the current status of the bridge, the island and its facilities since its termination, and will look at the current plants to revitalize the Long Island Bridge and create a new recovery continuum of care – including funding mechanisms, permitting needs, and timeline.

“We know this is an important right step to fight the opioid epidemic and find an end to this crisis,” said Essaibi-George. “But this will be expensive. The City Council should be involved in every step of this process.”

Essaibi-George said that the timeline is going to be over the next four years and that the Council should remain focused on the work that needs to be done now.

“When we re-open the Long Island Bridge, the crisis won’t end, but it is an important step to recognize this crisis and the role it plays and will play into the future,” said Essaibi-George.

The matter was assigned jointly to the Committee on Planning, Development & Transportation, and the Committee on Homelessness, Mental Health & Recovery for a hearing.

Suing Pharmaceutical Companies for Opioid Crisis:

Councilors Ayanna Pressley and Annissa Essaibi-George called for a hearing to discuss the findings from the City’s RFI to pursue litigation against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis.

“Data is often what drives us,” said Essaibi-George. “Every day six people die of overdose in MA. We need to make sure we are looking for ways to create hope and a path to recovery. Under this federal leadership that the work has really fallen on this city. I applaud the mayor’s effort to bring more resources to this city and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable.”

Cities and states across the country have filled lawsuits accusing drug companies of “borrowing a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook” by concealing the dangers and risks of long-term opioid use. Boston recently put out an RFI to seek information for our local involvement with this effort.

Resident Parking Permit Stickers are up for debate:

City Councilor Michelle Wu is asking for a hearing order to take a look at the current resident parking permit program within the City of Boston.

Currently, the City restricts on-street parking on many residential streets to vehicles with a valid neighborhood resident parking sticker, but there is no charge for a parking sticker and no restriction on how many stickers per household.

Wu said that there are many potential changes that would improve this system including adding parking benefit districts to incentive use of off-street spots, potential visitor passes, stickers for Boston Public School staff and small business owners – to even putting a small charge to obtain resident parking sticker.

“Our streets are one of the most valuable resources the city has in terms of property,” said Wu. “Even when residents have a resident parking permit sticker I hear from residents on how stressful it could be to circle and not find parking even if you get home a little after five or if you have visitors who can’t leave a car anywhere. There are a lot of issues we can untangle and look at.”

The matter was assigned to the Planning, Development and Transportation Committee and a hearing date has not been set.

In addition, Councilor Josh Zakim re-filed to have a hearing to discuss health care provider parking permits – that will consider giving health care workers parking permits to take care of their patients during the day without having to worry about getting a ticket.

Slowing down speculation:

Councilor Lydia Edwards gave her first speech on the floor of the Council, calling for a hearing on slowing down housing speculation in Boston. She described the housing crisis and wealth gap in Boston undermining people’s ability to stay in Boston.

Edwards suggested taxing the flipping of residential properties into luxury condos or apartments, foreign investment, and condo conversion to slow down the forces that continue to reduce the supply of housing for working families and generate needed revenue for affordable housing creation.

This matter was assigned to the Committee on Housing and Community Development for a hearing.

Boston Public Schools:

–BPS Grade Configuration – Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George called for a hearing to discuss reconfiguring the school district’s complex system of 33 different grade configurations.

–BPS Buses – She also called for a hearing to discuss the 2018-2019 BPS transportation budget. Essaibi-George reminded the Council that the School Department promised a $10 million savings from transportation efficiencies when planning for the FY17 budget and this did not happen.

–School Committee – In addition, Essaibi-George called for a hearing to discuss the pros and cons of an appointed, elected, or hybrid school committee. Boston transitioned in 1991 from a 13-member elected School Committee to a 7-member appointed School Committee, after a 1989 referendum. The voters of Boston reaffirmed this structure in a 1996 referendum. In addition, Councilor Ayanna Presseley said, “So often talking about how important it is engaging community voices it certainly bothered me that we have student representative on board but no voting power.”